PJ Haggerty scored 18 points to help No. 18 Memphis churn out a 77-68 victory over host Charlotte on Sunday afternoon.

Tyrese Hunter chipped in 15 points and distributed five assists and reserve Dain Dainja contributed 14 points for Memphis (14-4, 4-1 American Athletic Conference), which recovered after falling 88-81 on Thursday night at Temple. The Tigers have won five of their past six games.

Jaehshon Thomas racked up 18 points and Kylan Blackmon and Giancarlo Rosado each had 12 points for Charlotte (7-12, 0-6), which is the only team in the AAC without a league victory. The 49ers, who also received 10 points from Nik Graves, have lost seven games in a row.

Charlotte was undone by 38.6 percent shooting from the field, including a 32.1 percent clip from 3-point range. Thomas canned four of the 49ers’ nine triples.

Memphis outrebounded Charlotte 42-28 to help override its 16 turnovers. Dainja had nine boards and Haggerty and Moussa Cisse each pulled in eight.

The 49ers closed within 53-43 with about 13 minutes left in the game before the Tigers scored 10 straight points to pull away. Haggerty’s 3-pointer at the 7:50 mark of the second half stretched the Memphis lead to 66-45.

Charlotte closed the game on a 19-6 run to make the final score more respectable.

The Tigers had eight different players score to help build a 22-14 lead. The margin hit 20 when Hunter drilled a 3-pointer to make it 36-16 with 4:40 left in the first half.

After leading 11-10, the 49ers fell into an offensive funk. They managed five points over the next 11-plus minutes as Memphis seized control.

Memphis led 41-25 at halftime, boosted by the fact that seven of its 15 field goals came from 3-point range. Colby Rogers had all nine of his points for Memphis in the first half on three threes.

Both teams fired often from 3-point range in the first half. The Tigers attempted 16 of their 26 shots from beyond the arc, while the 49ers took 17 of their 30 first-half shots from 3-point range, making five.

–Field Level Media